Hi, my name is Ilana Vines, and I go to the Emery/Weiner School.
I like to think of myself as a pretty well-rounded person.
I am an okay student.
I'm an exceptionally hard worker if I say so myself.
I play basketball.
I like to think of myself as pretty creative.
Like everyone, we all have strengths and weaknesses,
some more easily recognized than others.
For example, when you see someone who's in a wheelchair,
the first thing you see is a weakness of theirs.
But let's say you see someone who's not in a wheelchair -
let's use me as an example.
You may not see someone who gets distracted easily.
For some people, they may have a unique quality that can be looked as a weakness.
For example, not being able to work in a normal learning environment.
School systems have worked incredibly hard to provide a good education
for kids to take on and go and do exceptional things.
However, there's one flaw.
It only accommodates to one kind of learner.
Classes are structured on that one learner's strenghts and weaknesses.
By doing this, you're helping a lot of students, but not all.
Why can't the other kids have the same advantage?
So far, the only solution I've seen to this problem is one thing -
One thing that seems like they're helping,
but actually doing nothing to help the situation.
The solution schools have come up with is to group all the other kids together
that don't learn like everyone else.
By doing this, you're saying
they have more in common with each other than with the other students.
But what if there was another way, a way for all kids to learn at their on pace?
The idea I came up with
is to allow the student to decide how they get the information.
Yes, the child decides.
Research shows that kids do tremendously better in college.
They do better
because they pick and choose their own classes.
I mean, this makes so much more sense.
No one knows you better than you.
I'm not saying we get to pick our classes and what we learn.
I'm just saying we get to choose how we get the information.
For example, if a child has ADHD,
instead of putting him or her in a separate learning environment,
why not letting the child decide how they learn better
and the teacher helps them from there?
So far, in the United Kingdom, they're already using this idea.
They call it PLE,
Personalised Learning Environments.
PLEs are environments
in which individual learners and groups of learners
can access a range of tools and resources for personalised learning activities.
By doing this, you are not separating the child from the rest of the classmates.
You are also putting the child on a path of academic success.
Right now, they're being prepared because when they go to college,
they will know exactly what to do.
Thank you.
(Applause)